Pizza the action raises dough

Aspired Futures is a local charitable organisation which supports vulnerable children and young people.

For the past couple of months, a group of children and young people have been learning how to make pizzas in a work environment under food safety requirements with baker Phil Wignall.

The workshops lead to Phil offering the group an opportunity to plan and prepare their very own fund-raising event.

Over several weeks, the children, Aspired Futures staff and dedicated volunteers met with Phil to work towards creating Inspired Pizza, with his help, support and guidance.

The children were involved in all stages of setting up the event, from learning how to make Inspired Pizzas, planning the event, creating and delivering leaflets and, of course, taste testing before the event.

They also enjoyed a candy floss machine whipping them up plenty of pink candy floss.

The event took place at Phil’s Bakery, Whalley Place, Lytham St Annes, and it was a huge success.

The queues out the door spoke volumes to the children, and their hard work and efforts were obviously very well appreciated as community members and Aspired Futures volunteers came to support the children and young people on the night.

Aspired Futures offers a wide range of education, sport, cultural, play, and leisure activities to engage children, encourage social interaction, develop self-confidence and increase resilience.

To remove all barriers to access they provide transport to and from services.

They say: “Our fundamental principles are founded on respect, kindness and traditional values. We believe every child and young person deserves equality in opportunity and care.

“Our model of working has been developed over 20 years of experience of working with children and families.

“To each child their attendance at Aspired Futures is about fun, enjoyment, freedom, safety and the opportunity to be with adults who are interested in hearing their opinions, hopes, fears and joys.

“We maintain robust assessment, monitoring and reporting tools and systems to ensure we can evidence efficacy of our services and reflect new initatives to meet the changing needs of the children and young people.

“This is carried out in compliance with safeguarding frameworks and resilience best practice.

“In this regard, Aspired Futures is in a strong position to discuss future projects with commissioners and partner organisations.”

By Louisa Gregson

[email protected]

@The_Gazette